"I Can!": Building students' self-efficacy

Comments (0)

Transcript of "I Can!": Building students' self-efficacy

"I Can!": Building students' self-efficacy What is self-efficacy? One's belief in one's ability to succeed To develop self-efficacy, students must... Believe they have ALREADYaccomplished something Believe they CAN achieve WHY is this important? The psychologist Albert Bandurafound that self-efficacy affects: -How well peopleacquire new skillsand knowledge -How wellpeople performon new tasks He also found that... self-efficacy beliefs were a better predictorof future performance thanforecasting based on past results. So what? There is a role for praise in the classroom, BUT Teachers must be careful to praise EFFORT rather than INTELLIGENCE. Let's let Carol Dweck explain: Now remember, we have two goals: 1. Show students they CAN achieve. 2. Show students they haveALREADY accomplished something. Dweck's theories on "process praise"versus "intelligence praise" helpteachers accomplish that first goal. In other words...Always praise students for how hard they have worked,NOT for how smart they are. That will cause students to develop a GROWTH MINDSET that emphasizes a belief in MALLEABLE INTELLIGENCE. Make this your classroom slogan: Intelligence is NOT fixed.HARD WORK plusperseveranceequals success. Now, how do I show studentsthat they've ALREADYaccomplished something? The best way to keep students motivated is to provide TIMELY,CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK through formative assessments. That strategy is called"Assessment for Learning," and it can take many forms. The basic principles of "Assessment for Learning" are as follows: 1. Give students multiple chances to master important skills. 2. Create a grading systemthat rewards progress anddoesn't penalize students for taking longer to reachmastery. Here's an example of how "Assessment for Learning" might play out in the real world: To avoid the problemsshown in the video,create a grading systemthat rewards studentsfor mastering concepts,regardless of how longthey take to reach their goal. For example, you could allowstudents to retakeimportant examsan unlimited numberof times. That policy createsan environment in whichthe ultimate goalis for the students todemonstrate masteryof the targeted skills,no matter how many triesit takes for them to reach that goal. There is much more that could be said about building self-efficacy in generaland "Assessment for Learning" in particular. For now, remember these principles:

1. Intelligence is NOT fixed.HARD WORK plus perseveranceequals success. 2. Praise EFFORT, not intelligence. 3. Create a grading systemthat rewards PROGRESSand recognizes that theultimate goal should be forstudents to achieve mastery,regardless of how longthey take to reach their goal. Don't forget to createa tracking system so thatstudents can visually seetheir progress. Simple spreadsheetsor graphs can accomplish this goal.